MAC address
What is an Ethernet hardware address (MAC)?
Every network card receives a so-called hardware address (media access control) from the manufacturer. This address is stored on the network card and is used for its identification in the local network. It is ensured by cooperation of the manufacturers that this address is unique worldwide.
It has the following structure: 12 digits with the characters: 0-9 and A-F. An example would be 0800B050A123.
Often the address is divided into pairs of characters by "-" or ":" to make it easier to read: e.g. 08-00-B0-50-A1-23 or 08:00:B0:50:A1:23
The Ethernet hardware address is not to be confused with the IP address (134.100.xxx.xxx) for which it is the basis.
What is the easiest way to find this address?
Network Printers
The easiest way is to look a label housing of the device.
Another way is to look in the configuration menu or on the configurartion print out.
PC
Depending on the operating system used, there are various ways to determine the hardware address of PCs that are frequently used in a network. The following section describes the methods for the usual operating systems.
XP/Win7/Win8/Win10
- Start the DOS prompt ("cmd")
- "ipconfig /all"
- The entry with the name of your network card (e.g. Ethernet adapter LAN) contains a line "Physical address" with 6 number/letter pairs separated by hyphens.
This is the hardware address you are looking for. Please make a note of it. - Close the DOS prompt by entering "exit".
Mac (OSX):
Start the application "Terminal" (Applications -> Utilities -> Terminal).Enter "ifconfig" at the command prompt and press "Enter".
The following output contains the network settings and among other
Unix/Linux:
In a terminal / shell window enter "ifconfig" or "ip addr".
In cases of doubt, members of the service team can determine the hardware address.